Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi has sent an urgent letter to Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh requesting him to immediately withdraw the ban on Cotton export. The Chief Minister has also requested the PM to allot export quota of 1 million cotton bales to Gujarat in special case to save state farmers from great loss.
After returning back from Chennai-Tamilnadu, Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi wrote a letter to Prime Minister in which he said Gujarat produces about one third cotton of India and contributes 50% export of Cotton. Gujarat’s Cotton has become famous internationally due to its quality. While in 2003 the state produced 16 lakh hector of Cotton crop, last year the production reached 24.64 lakh hector. This year Gujarat farmers have produced 104.55 lakh bales of Cotton.
Shri Modi in his letter to the PM said policy of banning the Cotton export practiced by central government’s Finance and Commerce ministries is clear injustice to Cotton farmers and there’s anger among the farmers on this issue.
Shri Modi said there’s a game being played to discourage Gujarat’s Cotton farmers. In 2010 central Finance ministry had imposed Rs. 2500 export duty per tonne. A notification in this regard was issued on 9 April, 2010. This is anti-farmers policy.
Shri Narendra Modi terming this as an anti-farmer policy of the central government further said in his letter that while internationally cotton prices are increasing, we are having opposite experience at home-front where prices are going down.
Shri Modi pointed out that Cotton producers have no arrangement to store their yield and therefore they are compelled to sell Cotton at lower prices. BT Cotton S6′s price has come down from Rs Rs 44,000 per candy from earlier Rs 62,500, while Short staple V 797 cotton price is down at Rs 25,000 from earlier Rs 50,000 per candy. Raw BT Cotton was priced at Rs 7250, but now its price is 40% down.
Chief Minister also pointed out that while last year 295 lakh bales cotton was produced and 85 lakh export quota was approved., this year there has been 330 lakh bales production, but the approved export quota is only 55 lakh bales!
The Chief Minister in his letter said It is not understandable that what kind of approach central Commerce ministry has adopted.
